Blue White Illustrated

Ten with an average of 117.2 yards per game. And, as an indication of Penn State's overall progress under Moorhead, Barkley's numbers actually went up starting with the second week of confer- ence play. During the team's 7ve-game Big Ten winning streak, he rushed for 738 yards on 101 carries for an average of 7.3 yards per attempt. A9er the game with Iowa, Barkley ex- plained what makes Moorhead's o8ense so e8ective. "You just put [defenses] in tough spots," he said. "If you want to come to me, you give Trace [McSorley] an oppor- tunity to beat you with his feet. If you want to try to stop us both, you give us a chance to throw the ball on the outside and have to cover, in my opinion, the best wide receiver corps in the Big Ten." Penn State was doing all of the above in October and early November. Coming out of the Iowa game, the Lions were 7elding one of the most balanced and explosive o8enses in the Big Ten. They were aver- aging 183.4 rushing yards and 231.6 pass- ing yards per game, and Barkley had totaled 20 "chunk" plays, while the team's top six receivers all had at least one reception for 40 or more yards. "That's the mentality Coach Moor- head instills on o8ense – to have that killer mentality and 7nish," Barkley said. "We know how it is to be a second-half team, how to be able to be down and come back and know the game's not over. "When we get the chance and we're up early, we've got to step on the pedal and 7nish them." Moorhead's o8ense was always attack- ing in the games against Maryland, Pur- due and Iowa. Godwin said he believes the approach 7ts the mentality of Penn State's o8ensive players, particularly its skill position players. "It de7nitely helps our team morale, because we understand that, at any point in the game, we're going to con- tinue to attack," he said. "We're never going to let o8 the gas. We are going to keep moving forward. "You can de7nitely kind of tell as the game is progressing that defenses are… getting confused or their eyes are get- ting caught in di8erent places. You can tell that you have them on their heels." Success breeds con7dence, and con7- dence allows players to reach their full potential. "We're getting better, I know that," Franklin said. "What does 'better' equate to on Saturdays? I can't predict that. But we are getting better every sin- gle day." Two other sta8 changes that helped boost Penn State this fall were Matt Limegrover's arrival as o8ensive line coach and the promotion of linebackers coach Brent Pry to defensive coordinator following Bob Shoop's departure for Tennessee. Limegrover's impact on the o8ensive line came into clear focus when starting right tackle Brendan Mahon was injured on Penn State's initial o8ensive series against Iowa. The Lions were forced to call on redshirt sophomore backup Chasz Wright, and as Franklin noted a9er the game, "He played pretty well. That shows that we're starting to create [depth]. Coach Limegrover has done a great job, and I'm really proud of Chasz. We would never have been able to do that a year ago or two years ago." At his Nov. 8 news conference, Franklin said Penn State's o8ensive turnaround in October was due prima- rily to the development of the line. And bear in mind, the line was without start- ing le9 tackle Andrew Nelson, who went down with a season-ending knee injury against Maryland and has been replaced by Paris Palmer. "Our o8ensive line is a lot better," Franklin said. "They are older. They are more mature, they [understand] tech- niques and fundamentals, and then we have depth now. "Think about a couple of years ago: If we lost two of our starting tackles, we wouldn't have been able to handle that, and now you're in a position where you would still love to have [Andrew Nelson and Mahon], but [Palmer and Wright] have come in and played well for us, so that's positive." What many fans and media members failed to realize heading into the season was that the Nittany Lions had the man- power they needed. Those players just happened to be inexperienced. Franklin and his sta8 had brought in solid re- cruiting classes in 2015 and '16, and the newcomers simply needed game experi- ence and practice reps to develop into the kind of players who could capably replace departed standouts such as Austin Johnson, Carl Nassib and An- thony Zettel. Two areas in which Penn State's talent was being underestimated were the of- fensive and defensive lines. Coming out of spring practice, fans and sportswriters seemed resigned to the likelihood that Penn State would continue to su8er the kind of erratic of- fensive line play that had resulted in more than 80 sacks the previous two seasons. Depth on the line had been nonexistent in 2014 and '15. Most of the N O T I C E T O S U B S C R I B E R S Mailing date of December issue subject to change The next edition of Blue White Il- lustrated will preview Penn State's bowl game. When BWI went to press with its current issue, the Nittany Lions' postseason destination was still sev- eral weeks from being revealed. That means that the mail date of the up- coming magazine is subject to change. The bowl preview was originally slated to be mailed on Dec. 16, but if the Nittany Lions were to earn an in- vitation to a January bowl game, the magazine may instead mail on Dec. 22. If the upcoming edition of BWI is mailed on the later date, we will no- tify subscribers via email of the change.

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